Member

Finally, I realise that the Minister will no doubt say that we have to await the publication of the child poverty strategy, which has been postponed until the autumn. Whatever one thinks of that delay, and there are arguments for and against it, the time must be used by those at the very top of government to make the case publicly for why the child poverty strategy is so important—indeed, the Government’s moral mission—and if, as I hope is the case, it is now accepted that the two-child limit and, I would argue, the benefit cap, must go, explain why this is the fair thing to do. Otherwise, I fear that trying to meet any target, however modest, would be like running up a down escalator, far from the very welcome promise of an ambitious strategy.